Alex Easton holds back tears as he pays tribute to parents following election victory

An emotional Alex Easton held back tears as he was elected MP for North Down.

The Independent unionist candidate defeated the incumbent Stephen Farry, of the Alliance Party, by more than 7,000 votes. Mr - a former DUP MLA who later switched to Independent - Easton polled 20,913 while Mr Farry received 13,608 votes.

Giving his victory speech, Mr Easton looked visibly emotional as he paid tribute to his parents who were tragically killed in a house fire last year. He told the audience: "Mam, dad - I did this for you".

Read more: North Down election results in full

Read more: Northern Ireland election results in full as 18 new MPs confirmed - how your area voted

Mr Easton said his father had always believed in him. Earlier in the evening as he appeared to be polling well, Mr Easton said: “I have waited all my life for this moment.”

Alec and Ann Easton, both 81, died following the blaze at their house on Dellmount Park, Bangor, in January 2023. The fire was reported at around 8.44am and 19 firefighters tackled the blaze, with the elderly couple receiving treatment at the scene before passing away.

Mr Easton said he was "gobsmacked" after winning North Down and told those gathered in the count centre that the victory "means everything" to him.

He said winning the seat from Alliance is proof that "when unionism unites, we can win back seats for unionism", he says "lessons need learned" in other constituencies.

Just before 3am, Mr Farry all but conceded and said Mr Easton had “rebranded himself successfully” as an independent.

“I look back at the last five years with a lot of pride, we have achieved a lot of things and I think it was very important that I stood by my vision and my values for North Down and indeed for Northern Ireland and further afield,” he said.

“I’ve been in politics now for the best part of 30 years and I’ve had far more ups than downs. I go in to politics – we all do – knowing it’s a very difficult trade to be in, there’s lots of external factors that come into play.”